House, govt, Supreme Court in rush to select judges for new court
House, govt, Supreme Court in rush to select judges for new court
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Following the approval of the constitutional court bill by the
House of Representatives, the government, House of
Representatives and the Supreme Court will now have to work hard
to select judges for the court before the Aug. 17 deadline.
Each of the three institutions have to appoint three judges to
the Constitutional Court before this date, making up a total nine
judges.
The House's Commission II on legal affairs plans to conduct
selection hearings for its candidate judges on Aug. 13 and August
14, and will make its selections on Aug. 15, commission chairman
Agustin Teras Narang said on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza
Mahendra said that the government would also appoint three judges
before Aug. 17.
Chief Justice Bagir Manan said on Thursday that the Supreme
Court had already identified a number of candidates for the
Constitutional Court. The Supreme Court would soon make a
definitive selection of three of these, all of whom are high
court judges.
After the three institutions appoint their judges to the
Constitutional Court, the court will be officially inaugurated on
August 17 at the latest.
The nine judges of the Constitutional Court will serve for
five years, with the possibility of reappointment for a further
five-year term.
The selection of the Constitutional Court judges is now
essential following the House's endorsement of the constitutional
court bill late on Wednesday evening.
Wednesday's plenary session was convened amid the Annual
Session of People's Consultative Assembly, which also comprises
all the members of the House.
As the deadline for the selection of the nine judges nears, it
is clear that little public participation will be involved in the
selection process.
In fact, the selection process in the House of Representatives
will be the most ostensibly democratic as it will involve
selection hearings for each candidate before a final decision is
made.
Commission II chairman Teras Narang said on Thursday that his
selection team would invite each faction in the House to nominate
a maximum of three candidates.
After that, Teras said, the selection team would listen to
suggestions from the public before holding its selection
hearings.
The final results of the selection process would be presented
to the House plenary session on Aug. 15.
The commission had identified four candidates so far.
Agun Gunandjar Sudarsa of the Golkar faction disclosed on
Thursday that his faction would nominate three candidates and one
of them would be Andi Mattalata, a Golkar legislator.
If selected, Andi would have to relinquish his membership of
Golkar as the bill prohibits a judge of the new court from
simultaneously serving as a state official, being a member of a
political party, running a business, or working as a lawyer or
civil servant.
Meanwhile, Mutammimul Ula of the Reform faction revealed that
his faction would likely nominate constitutional law experts
Jimly Ashidiqqie of the University of Indonesia, Dahlan Thaib of
the Yogyakarta-based Indonesian Islamic University, and Mukti
Fadjar of the Malang-based Brawijaya University.
The Constitutional Court will have the power to review the
constitutionality of laws, adjudicate on disputes or conflicts
between state institutions, dissolve political parties and
resolve electoral disputes.
The court also has the power to rule on allegations by the
House that the president and/or vice president are guilty of
treason, corruption, bribery, serious crimes or misconduct.
The definitions of treason, serious crimes and misconduct are
to be set out in the ancillary legislation.
A hearing by the Constitutional Court must be attended by at
least seven judges.
Powers of Constitutional Court
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No. Action At the request of
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1. Law review Individuals, those representing a
specific community,
private and public institutions
2. Disputes between State institutions
state institutions
3. Dissolution of The government
a political party
4. Electoral disputes Individuals, legislative candidates,
presidential and vice presidential
candidates, political parties.
5. Impeachment The House
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Source: Constitutional Court Bill